Burke’s off-ice efforts won admiration

Sudden firing won’t hurt gay rights work, groups say

Brian Burke

TORONTO STAR/VINCE TALOTTA

Acknowledging that the NHL was a “still very much a macho workplace,” in the last few years Burke made numerous high-profile appearances on behalf of gay rights, speaking for organizations like Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) in the aim of eliminating homophobia, in sport and in society.

When Stu Auty approached Brian Burke to be an advocate for his anti-bullying organization last year, the then Leafs general manager responded with a warning.

“He told me managers of hockey teams don’t generally have a long shelf life,” Auty, president of the Canadian Safe School Network, said Wednesday. “I said: ‘If we can get you for 20 seconds, we’ll take you.’ ”

Just as easily as it conjures the image of a rough, tough, no-nonsense hockey manager, Brian Burke’s name evokes that of a strong, compassionate advocate of the LGBT community.

His sincerity and dedication are why there’s little concern his influence in anti-homophobia activism will carry less weight following his sudden firing Wednesday. Auty, and others like him, wanted the man, not the title.

“He’s a very special advocate because he believes it. What he does is not fake and it’s not phoney. It’s real,” said Auty.

The tough-talking, self-described gruff Burke initially seemed an unlikely advocate, but it was his late son Brendan — a former student manager for the Miami (Ohio) University hockey team who came out as gay in 2009 — who inspired Burke to work to eliminate homophobia, in sport and in society.

Acknowledging that the NHL was “still very much a macho workplace,” in the last few years, Burke made numerous high-profile appearances on behalf of gay rights, speaking for organizations like Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

He participated in Pride parades, first alongside Brendan, then — following a fatal car crash in Indiana in February 2010, just months after he came out publicly — in honour of him.

As Toronto journalist Ivor Tossell noted on Twitter Wednesday, the former GM went to City Hall in 2011 to help raise the rainbow flag.

“Only a scattered few were there,” Tossell wrote, noting that among the absent was Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. “But Brian Burke was there. Next year, everybody came.”

Last year, Burke was handed PFLAG’s Ally Award, given each year to a community leader dedicated to fighting homophobia and bullying. Irene Miller, the president of PFLAG’s Toronto chapter, said Wednesday that Burke’s LGBT advocacy has made a “tremendous difference.”

“He threw open the door to the locker-room, into the sports world, and that was something that had been a long time coming, and it was a very brave thing, not just for Brian to do but for Brendan to have done,” Miller said.

Andrea Houston, a reporter for the Xtra, a gay and lesbian newspaper, said Burke’s impact has been “immense.”

“Him coming out and saying that he supports LGBT athletes and he’s going to work toward eradicating homophobia did so much good,” she said.

“I can’t see (his firing) having any impact on his activism,” she added.

“Definitely his job brought some media attention and focused the light on him,” Miller acknowledged, “but I think there’s more to Brian Burke than that title.”